Ben's Gotcha Day!

Three years ago today, the court in Volgograd, Russia officially declared Benjamin to be our son. I will never forget June 23, 2006. I will also never forget having to wait until June 26 to go get him. Court was on a Friday, and the orphanage was too far away to pick Benjamin up that day, so we had to wait until first thing Monday morning. These pictures are actually from June 22, 2006. We were able to visit Benjamin once before the court date and enjoyed some time with him. I look at these pictures and am just shocked by how small he is. He looks so tine. The overall shorts they had on him were too small, but they did fit. They were a size 6 months. We put him in 18 mos clothes and they were baggy. Today he is happy and enjoying life. He may still be small, but I have to remind myself he has grown a great deal. We received some news from the pediatric GI today. Ben has a bacteria in his stomach called H Pylori. He'll be taking some serious antibiotics over the next few weeks to kill it off. About 2 years ago, I started asking the doctors if he could have H Pylori. I had heard about the bacteria from other adoption mamas and wondered if that could be causing some of Ben's growth issues. It is very rare here in the US, so for the most part I was politely dismissed and I let it go. Now I wish I had listened to my mama instincts and pushed to have him tested sooner. We are pretty sure he has had this since living in Russia, as it is very rare in the US. But in places like Russia, without treated water, it is fairly common. We are hoping treating this will help him feel better and help his system to work better.